The ABC’s of A Cutting Garden Gordonsville’s Virginia Rockwell
of The Gentle Gardener
and local grower Joe Caputi of Charlotte’s Garden make it
easy as A, B, C.

BY JOE CAPUTI AND VIRGINIA ROCKWELL

You can grow your own beautiful cut flowers and
foliage for bouquets throughout your landscape, or create a specific
area for cutting. We’ve been asked by our clients to share
our secrets. Here are the A, B, C’s:

“A” is for Architectural
Plants.These trees and shrubs are the ‘architecture’ of
your landscape throughout the year, and also perform the same function
in the vase: they provide shape, texture and bold color when arranging.
When designing landscapes, the Gentle Gardener often recommends
evergreen, long-blooming magnolia grandiflora “Little
Gem”, a dwarf form of the huge Southern magnolia. “Little
Gem” is a smaller, pyramidal, “instant gratification” magnolia:
leaves are 3-5 inches long; within 3 years the tree bears lemon-scented
ivory blooms the size of saucers rather than dinner plates, and
the tree grows only 8’ wide and 20’ tall. “Little
Gem” can even be grown in raised planters like those in front
of the Town Hall in Gordonsville.

Other choices to grace your winter
garden and holiday table, door or mantle include: ‘English’ laurel, prunus
laurocerasus “Otto Luyken”, with 3” long glossy
green leaves and a neat, 4’ wide and 3’ high vase shape,
and ‘sparkleberry’ deciduous holly ilex verticillata
x attenuata hybrids “Winter Red”, “Red Sprite” and “Sparkleberry”,
which lose their not-spiky leaves to reveal beautiful clusters of
red berries all along the stems. Most folks don’t even know
these are hollies, nor do they know cornus alba sibirica, c. baileyii,
c. sericerea, or c. sanguinea viridissima are all red
or yellow twig shrubby dogwoods. The more you cut these dogwood stems
to arrange at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, the more vivid
red or yellow twigs grow back each year.

“B” is for Backyard
Basics. With a little advance planting of bulbs and seeds in
the cool of autumn, you can begin to cut flowers as early as March,
and children can plant seeds directly into the spring garden for
summer cut flowers. Fall planted daffodils (narcissus) and
tulips are the easiest way to bring the first flowers of spring
into our landscapes and homes. Deer don’t eat daffodils,
but love tulips, so locate your tulip plantings carefully, or buy
locally grown tulips.

Seeds to sow in fall such as larkspur, nigella (love-in-a-mist),
and bachelor’s buttons are easy: plant directly into the garden
in the fall and forget them! They’ll surprise you in late April
through June, and reseed themselves, giving you years of effortless
beauty. Plant seeds of perennial echinacea (purple coneflower)
and rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan) in autumn, too. They are
both perennial and reseeding, and will bloom in the first year if
seeded in autumn.When the weather warms, it’s child’s
play to seed zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos, and amaranth for vibrant
summer color. Sow in a circular ‘keyhole’ garden for
children to enjoy their own ‘Secret Garden’.

Cut flower perennials (which return
every year) to buy as plants for your beds and borders include: achillea (yarrow), liatris (gayfeather), monarda (bee
balm or bergamot), peonies, phlox “David”, salvia and
veronica. These give a variety of flower shapes and colors to keep
both the landscape and the arrangements fresh throughout the summer.

“C” is for Cut Flowers
for Connoisseurs: These flowers are usually grown by professionals
like Charlotte’s Garden and are a bit more difficult to grow,
but well worth the effort once you’ve mastered “A” and “B”.
If you are short on time and expertise, pick one to try and buy
the others from your local grower through florists and farmer’s
markets specializing in locally grown produce, such as The Gentle
Gardener.

Everybody loves Sweet Peas; however,
Virginia summers are very hot and humid, not ideal for these cold
loving blooms. Try starting seeds indoors and transplant in early
April, or grow in your unheated greenhouse.

Other connoisseur varieties include: lisianthus (very
difficult to start, but plants are also available), tuberose (gardenia-scented,
nostalgic, easy to grow), and dahlia.

For more information, cut flowers to
order, and a more extensive list of cutting
garden plants and sources, and other resources, please contact
The Gentle Gardener, or Charlotte’s Garden, www.virginiaflowers.net.
Refer to this article to receive 20% off your plant or cut flower
purchase.

Joe Caputi
of Charlotte’s
Garden, Louisa County, grows over 70 varieties of annuals, perennials
and woody shrubs, from ageratum to zinnias, tulips, lilies, tuberose,
dahlias, hydrangeas, and much more. Charlotte’s Garden flowers
can be found at The Gentle Gardener in Gordonsville, the City Market
in Charlottesville, and the 17th Street Farmers’ Market in
Richmond.

Virginia R. Rockwell, VSLD,
is landscape designer and owner of The Gentle Gardener, where she
creates landscapes, container gardens, and country weddings and
events. She is certified by the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers.